


Sassafras Roots

by WarMageCentral



Series: She [1]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, M/M, Rating subject to change in later chapters/works in this series, Titles from Green Day songs, Who works in a sex shop, With Grantaire, but not a song fic, whoops, Éponine is a philosopher
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-05
Updated: 2013-08-20
Packaged: 2017-12-10 11:39:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/785646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WarMageCentral/pseuds/WarMageCentral
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cosette never thought there could be beauty in the rain.<br/>Until she found her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first try at Éponine/Cosette though there'll most likely still be mentions of Enjolras/Grantaire because they're my OTP for life.
> 
> Not really sure where I'm going with this, it was orgininally suppsoed to be porn without plot but a story came out of my brain, whoops.

_I’m a waste like you_

_With nothing else to do_

_May I waste your time too?_

 

Cosette had always hated the rain.

No matter how much she wraps herself up or huddles under her umbrella, in the rain Cosette always feels chilled to the bone as the world loses all of its vibrancy and everything becomes a muted grey. Coats and dreams are dampened and people’s moods darken with the clouds. She never thought there could be beauty in the rain.

Until she found her.

 

 

 

When Cosette woke up that morning and looked out her window she was immediately in a foul mood. The irksome pitter-patter of rain drops hitting her bedroom window narrated the dull image of the world outside, umbrellas fighting a losing battle against the wind, people cursing as they rushed on their way to work--

_Work._

_Damn_.

Cosette checked the clock on her nightstand and, sure enough, she had slept in. It was almost like her body was already aware of the weather outside and was completely unwilling to let itself be exposed to the elements. And as much as she would love to be able to stay in her apartment all day with its shabby-chic décor and pastel colours covering the walls, Cosette knew that she would lose said apartment if she didn’t go into work and get paid.

So, with a world-weary sigh, Cosette rolled out of bed and readied herself for the day

 

 

 

Usually she would walk to the library where she worked, but the weather was so bad and she had lost her umbrella (actually, she had lent it to her friend, Jehan, who worked with her in the library a few weeks ago but she won’t remember this until later and she’ll probably thank him for it). So Cosette finds herself, already twenty minutes late for work, at a bus stop.

This is when she sees her.

Rounding the corner to the bus stop Cosette sees the lean figure of a girl-- no, a woman, leaning against the wall. Her short-cropped black hair frames a face with almond-shaped hazel eyes and when the girl turns around to smile at Cosette, she sees dimples that she would gladly get lost in.

And then Cosette realises she is staring at a stranger and turns away, leaning against the same wall as the woman but making sure there’s a few feet of space left between them. The girl must have other ideas, however, as she casually slides closer to Cosette, just stopping short of invading her personal space.

“Hey.” She says-- no, _purrs_ , though her voice is husky, like she spends her nights shouting to be heard over club music and smoking too many cigarettes.

“Hi.” Cosette replies shyly, trying not to be obvious as she gives the stranger a once-over, taking in her army green hoodie that, despite the rain, is open to reveal a ripped Jack Daniels t-shirt, black jeans and a pair of muddy combat boots. And despite the darkness in her clothes, when this girl smiles it’s like a small piece of the sun is breaking through the clouds and suddenly, Cosette no longer feels the chill in the air.

“Do you want a cigarette?” The stranger asks, interrupting Cosette’s inner-mooning and holding out a pack of Marlboro.

Cosette politely declines with a shake of her head, feeling herself blushing slightly ( _and why the hell is she blushing?_ ) “I don’t smoke.” She explains.

The girl just looks pointedly at her for a moment before saying “I didn’t ask if you smoked, I asked if you wanted a cigarette.” Cosette knows that she should probably be offended by her abruptness, but when this stranger gives her a small smirk and Cosette sees the spark of  amusement in her heavily made up eyes, she feels herself grinning too.

“This is true.” Cosette says slowly, trying to sound sly and flirtatious like the other woman but probably failing miserably. “But if I don’t smoke, why would I want a cigarette?”

“What’s the reason for anything?” The girl replies, bringing a cigarette to her own lips and lighting it and Cosette finds herself entranced with how she breathes in the smoke like it is more important than oxygen and how when she exhales, the smoke is released back into the air like a caress, like a silent prayer as it mingles with the faintly grey tendrils coming from the cigarette itself  before floating up into the grey sky.

Cosette’s staring is rudely interrupted by a rain drop falling into her eye, and she wipes furiously at it, muttering “I hate the rain.”

The woman simply gives her a small smile and says “God is in the rain.”

Cosette finds herself at a loss for words. Though she tried to find beauty in everything, she had always loathed the rain, it just made everything seem dull and dark and _unholy_ if anything.

But maybe whatever brought this stranger to her could be heaven blessed after all.

At the girl’s smirk, Cosette realises that she has been staring again, but she doesn’t have time to be embarrassed because a bus comes, and it isn’t Cosette’s.

“Sorry, this is my bus.” The woman beside her says, and she does genuinely sound sorry, which makes Cosette feel a bit better about the disappointment she feels herself.

“Oh.” She says brilliantly. “Well it was nice meeting you.”

“Yeah you too.” The girl says, walking towards the bus before pausing and saying. “Maybe I’ll see you around.”

“I’d like that.” Cosette finds herself saying before she can stop herself, but if the woman is creeped out by the sudden case of stranger danger she certainly doesn’t show it, instead flashing Cosette another blinding smile.

All too soon she is on the bus, but she takes a window seat that is close to Cosette. While people are still boarding the bus, the girl breathes on the window, before writing a word in the condensation. “Éponine.” It reads, in wonky writing as she had to write backwards, and the woman points to herself.

Before figuring out just what the hell she’s doing, Cosette comes up to the window and breathes on it before writing her own name, going slightly insane at the fact that her face is so close to the girl’s - Éponine’s - separated only by a pane of glass.

“Cosette.” She sees Éponine mouth with a grin, and all too soon the bus doors are closing and it is pulling away from the curb.

She watches until the bus is out of view, then forgetting that she is supposed to be waiting for her own bus, Cosette begins to walk to the library in a daze, not even minding that the rain is still pouring down, because maybe it can be beautiful after all.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Éponine shares the tale of her encounter with a good friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "I will not turn this into another Amis fic" I whisper as I write Grantaire and Courfeyrac into this because friendship is beautiful :')
> 
> Okay wow I haven't updated this in a very very long time, whoops, sorry! I haven't had a lot of inspiration for this fic really but if it's any consolation I have lots planned for this series now :3
> 
> Sorry again for the wait, all mistakes are mine and enjoy!

_An hour later_

 

“So who’s the girl?”

Grantaire’s voice cutting through the relative silence of the small store makes Éponine jump. She takes a moment to catch her breath and curse at him a few times before answering his original question.

“Who says there’s a girl?”

“I do.” Grantaire retorts with an easy grin from under his mop of cherub-like black curls. Éponine thinks, not for the first time, that with his big blue eyes and dimples, her best friend definitely doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who’d work in a sex shop.

Until he opens his mouth.

“Plus, you’ve got that look like you wanna throw someone down on the counter and simply _devour_ them inch by sweating, trembling inch. Now, seeing as I’m the only one here and I’m not exactly your type, I’m assuming you met someone. Though if you do have a sudden change of appetite…” Grantaire trails off with a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows, and Éponine hits him with the first thing that comes to hand - which just happens to be a leather riding crop.

“Fuck you.” She laughs.

“I thought that’s what we were discussing here? Keep up, ‘Ponine!” Éponine hits him once more before realising that she probably shouldn’t be using the merchandise to assault her friend and puts it back in its place.

“As if you’re not extravagantly gay yourself Mister Oh-My-God-Enjolras-Is-So-Hot-I’m-Gonna-Die-If-I-Don’t-Lick-His-Abs-Do-You-Think-He’d-Be-Willing-To-Tie-Me-Up Grantaire.”

“I do not want to lick his abs!” Grantaire declares, trying to sound like the affronted southern belle that he most definitely is not. “Well… not _only_.” They both laugh at his usual crassness before he comes and encircles Éponine in a hug. “If it’s any consolation, if I ever magically go back to liking tits you’ll be the first person I call.”

She pulls out of the loose hug and swats him on the arm, this time with her hand. “Wow, R, you really know how to charm a lady. Shame you’re gay really.”

“Oh shit, there’s a lady present? Where is she? Is she standing behind you?” Grantaire makes a show of looking around the shop and Éponine physically facepalms because sometimes her and her friend’s sarcasm goes too far.

When he’s done with the charade, Grantaire swaggers back over to where Éponine is standing hanging up the new vibrators. “Speaking of ladies, you were about to tell me about your new tasty morsel.”

“No I wasn’t. And don’t call her that.” She doesn’t mean to snap - or speak at all, for that matter - but for some reason hearing a person speak about Cosette like that brings out Éponine’s defensive side.

“A-ha! I knew there was someone.” Grantaire does his victory dance that their friend Courfeyrac had helped him perfect over the years. “You have to tell me now!” When Éponine stubbornly remains silent he wraps his arms around her waist (rather unexpectedly, almost making her drop the boxes she’s holding) and whines, “Come on, I’ll be on my bestest behaviour. No crude comments, even those meant to compliment - which are all of them, by the by.”

Éponine sighs, knowing that she has no choice now. She never really could deny her best friends anything. They both know this, and when Grantaire hears her sigh he already knows she’s caved, and he lets out an excited squeal before letting her go and bounding over to the counter where he perches and waits patiently for the story.

“Nothing really happened. I was just waiting for the bus when she showed up and she was so beautiful and I offered her a cigarette and she said no but I’m pretty sure she tried to flirt with me a little though she’s not very good at it, then my bus came and I told her my name and she said she’s called Cosette and the bus drove away and I swear the air felt a little colder without her presence and, dear God, I think I’m turning into you.” Éponine rushes out in one breath.

“Wow.” Grantaire breathes after a moment. “So you don’t know who she is, where she lives or where she works?” When Éponine nods an affirmative he lets out a sympathetic sigh, “You’re fucked, sweetheart.”

“Who’s getting fucked without me?”

The voice from the door startles them both but Éponine doesn’t need to turn around to know that Courfeyrac has just come in. It’s kind of apparent that they all have the same sense of humour or _vulgarity_ as some people would put it, and that’s probably why they’re such good friends to begin with.

“Nobody’s getting fucked, Courf. That’s the problem.” Grantaire says sadly, sliding off the counter in a way that brings to mind the image of a wilting flower.

“Do not fret, for I come bearing good tidings! Well, for me anyway.” Courfeyrac absent-mindedly starts fiddling with a nearby set of nipple clamps before continuing. “I was at the library today - yes, the one where your dear Enjolras works, Grantaire - and it turns out that your Rocky Horror--”

“He does _not_ look like Rocky--”

“Hush. Anyway he has a friend who also works there and he is the most beautiful creature to have ever walked on God’s green earth.”

“Fascinating.” Éponine deadpans. “What’s that got to do with us?”

“Well since we’ve all been working so hard, I decided that it’s high time we had a night out, so I asked Enjolras and his co-workers to join us for a little rendezvous tomorrow night.” By the time he’s finished his brown corkscrew curls bounce slightly as he rocks on the balls of his feet, presumably waiting to hear his friends’ excited reaction to the news.

Grantaire looks like he may actually be twitching at the thought of seeing Enjolras in a nightclub. Éponine just feels a little underwhelmed, to be honest.

“So you’re dragging us to a lame-ass club just so you can hook up with some guy?”

“He’s not just some guy!” Courfeyrac declares, before adding, “And one of their co-workers is a chick who’s really hot.”

Éponine admits that it has been a painfully long time since she’s slept with anyone (which Courfeyrac loves to remind her at every opportunity) and both Grantaire and Courfeyrac are giving her puppy dog eyes so after a moment she relents with a sigh. “Fine. I’ll go to your shitty club night thing.”

While she is sandwiched between her two friends as they do their happy dance, Éponine thinks that going to a club might just be her chance to forget about shining blonde hair and deep blue eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm still a newbie when it comes to Éponine/Cosette and any feedback would be very much appreciated.
> 
> Thank you very much for reading and have a lovely day :)

**Author's Note:**

> Again, I'm still trying to figure this out but any feedback would be lovely.  
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
